Man's Best Friend
by Shahrezad1
Summary: Pongo was always willing to look out for his human, helping the hapless Psychiatrist find what he needs. RubyXArchie/RedXCricket.


Man's Best Friend

By Shahrezad1

Disclaimer: I don't anything OUAT-related. Although I do possess a few fairytale revamps of my own. :3

Summary: Pongo was always willing to look out for his human, helping the hapless Psychologist find what he needs. RubyXArchie/RedXCricket.

~/~/~

Humans were strange creatures, Pongo knew. They could take a simple event and complicate it beyond its original scope, getting upset at things that were relatively harmless. Barking late at night, for instance.

After all, Pongo held the responsibility of protecting their territory in high regard, and why his human felt the need to scold him when he was only doing his job made absolutely no sense. Especially when it wasn't even his fault! Blast that mangy orange Tom, and his clan of racket-inducing felines.

But despite their strange complexity and increased irritability, he was rather fond of these bipedals. They provided shelter that he didn't have to search out, food he didn't have to scrounge for, and plenty of company and affection. Tummy-rubs were a plus, too. So he tried to help out his human whenever he could, as a return favor. Especially when the man, smelling of books and paper and hot cocoa, provided him with bacon treats. There really was nothing better.

This was one of those days in which he was determined to do something to aid him, the human called Archie.

The past few weeks had been rough on the man, balancing conversations held in confidence from a variety of townsfolk. Pongo couldn't help but note a few of them as the red-furred, bespectacled person talked to him as though he could respond. The canine really couldn't, unfortunately, but he was good at providing an attentive, listening ear. For he knew that nothing Archie heard could be shared with others of his kind. So Pongo had always done his best to be present as a confidant, allowing him to share his burden.

Today was about the town drunk. Apparently he was in love with a nun and feeling guilty about it, but remained stubbornly insistent.

" 'Haven't you ever been in love with someone you shouldn't be?' he told me. I mean, what was I to say? 'Sure, I have. But do you see me stalking her all the time?' Of course not," the good Doctor vented plaintively to his loyal pet. Pongo noticed that his red-haired caretaker was itching to pour a dash of that offensive liquid in his perfectly innocent drink, but resisted the urge. The dog's ears pulled back in worry. Was their conversation really so dire that he would turn to the human poison?

Maybe he would have to pay more attention to what was being said, he thought decisively.

Pongo huffed a breath, wishing that humans were more straightforward in their conversations.

But Archie took his action as agreement, "exactly! The fact is, sometimes in life we don't get what we want. And, I mean, I want to help him. But how do you help someone that doesn't want to be helped? He just wants to be told that it's okay for him to feel the way he does by someone in an so-called official position. Aka, me," the human leaned up against the counter, sipping from his mug, and the dog resisted the urge to whine for some of its contents. After all, although the substance of chocolate smelled delicious it was as poisonous to his stomach as that amber liquid was to the bipedals. It didn't stop either of them from foolishly desiring it, however.

"And I can't exactly say, 'well, Leroy, it's perfectly natural to be crushing after a nun like Sister Astrid. Just don't act on it.' What kind of therapist would I be if I did? A hypocrite, that's what," he sighed, loosening his tie, "let's face it, I'm already a hypocrite."

The Dalmatian straightened in surprise, whining out a question as he came closer to nudge his human's hand. What in the world could the person be talking about? Hypocrite? What, did he save a bone from being stolen only to keep it for himself?

"Don't give me that face, you know I am. I mean, how can I tell him not to have a crush when I…when I…" Archie stared out the window of his kitchen, looking up at the stairs above them, "…when I know that, providing that wishing on stars actually worked, I would wish for _her_. But she's so out of my league it isn't even funny," the smile he shot his four-legged companion was wry if a little wistful, "I guess I know what to tell Leroy now. Don't keep your hopes up."

The red-head scratched behind Pongo's ears, temporarily distracting him, before offering an absentminded 'good night.' Leaving the dog to his large blue pillow the size of an inner tube.

But the creature couldn't sleep much that night-he had much to think about and some serious planning to do.

~/~/~

The first step, he'd decided, was observation. Apparently his human being was searching for a mate! But the human considered her to be too much of an Alpha Female for him to be worthy of her. Pongo huffed out a breath as Archie puttered around the house, preparing for his day.

There was less truth to that than a feline's tale, the dog had decided. Archie, with his solid stature and boundless experience, was more than worthy of a female. Sure, he wasn't the epitome of masculinity that the furred stranger was on his rumbling, rolling device, but the stranger was a Lone Wolf with an eye single to only one female—the sheriff. But neither was Archie a spineless human, with his tail between his legs like that Coyote-Witch's Lackey. Pongo's human had even stood up to the Coyote-Witch, a fox and hound pair had told him in observation, after that danger with the hole in the earth.

Plainly, Archie was a dominant male within their community, whom everyone looked to for advice. His stature was second only to that crazed Fox on the edge of town, with his cache of gold. But everyone knew that that human wasn't looking for anything like love and companionship right now, after having lost his mate and pup. Making him no competition. Thus in matters of finding a mate, Archie was an example of a human in his prime! A steady, intelligent person with the means to feed and shelter many pups and protect his female. He had enough of the wealth humans cherished to be more stable than other counterparts, the automobile-fixing Stray included, and was a kinder individual than the Hermit-Jackal with his mansion. (Pongo had been able to sense him on the edges of the town, but the human in black only every prowled in the direction of the blonde female pup that smelled like him.)

They were no competition to Archie.

Which meant that once Pongo figured out just which female his human was interested in, he would have to find a way to draw them together. He didn't have a plan yet, but he would when the time came.

~/~/~

Several days passed and Archie still hadn't spoken with the man who drank poison. It seemed he didn't want to hurt the working-class Badger, and Pongo took that as a sign that his human was also holding onto hope. They'd been for several walks in days past, but although their small town of burrows was littered with females he'd never seen his caretaker react differently to any one of them. Each was treated in a friendly, respectful manner. Greeted honestly, chatted with, then bid farewell. The man had never responded strangely to a single one of them, and Pongo was getting slightly irritated. And hungry.

He never could quite focus on one thing for long.

Pongo whined slightly in dismay, however, as he brought himself to task. It was, after all, his responsibility to watch out for Archie! They were best friends, and he knew that he was the only one the man was fully honest with. So why was it so hard to find just one-!

"Hi Archie," a cheerful voice spoke out of the midnight blue. Beside him, his normally relaxed human stiffened. Then he could hear him swallow as though it was difficult to do so.

"H-hello, Ruby. What are you doing out this late?" Archie stumbled, then slowly shuffled forward. Pongo was dragged along, mystified until the female came into view.

OH. Ah. That explained a lot.

Archie wanted the Wolf female. The Huntress. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he'd planned.

Tonight Ruby, as the bipedals called her, was dressed more fully than she usually was. The short pelt around her waist reached mid-thigh, which was still longer than her usual apparel. She had on pointed slippers, hooped ear-ornaments, and a moderate-cut tunic with mid-length sleeves. She was, in fact, rather pretty tonight. In a human sort of way.

She'd laughed at Archie's comment, "it's only ten. Not that late." Not so late that she wasn't up for a night on the town, an unspoken answer was supplied, "and apparently not so late that Granny's worried about me staying out to fix this sign. She's got some sort of early bird special going on tomorrow, and I can't seem to…"

Even with her pointed slippers she was still too short to loop the rope around, forcing her to strain for balance. Archie unexpectedly stepped forward, dropping Pongo's leash in the process and shocking his pet. However, this could be exactly what he needed…

"Here, let me help."

"Thanks, Archie!" the female responded in grateful surprise. And the canine was startled to see her press her hand to his human's shoulder in appreciation, causing Archie's breath to hitch. Could it be that the Huntress was interested in Archie, too?

"I-it's no problem. All in a day's work."

"Well, problem or no, you're definitely my Knight in Shining-!" the sentence was abruptly cut off by a gasp as Ruby found herself tripping on a tangle of looped leash. She found herself launched into the good Doctor's arms before she could fall, however, eliciting a blank moment of shock between the two of them. Shock and awareness, Pongo was happy to see as Ruby's face turned as red as her attire. Archie joined in until the two were a staring, a matched pair. A few minutes passed before his human finally withdrew in realization.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ruby! I don't know what came over Pongo, seriously, he just-!"

"D-don't worry about it," she said, voice cracking, then intentionally straightened as she backed away to fiddle with her hair while simultaneously attempting to untangle their feet, "it wasn't like he did it intentionally, right? He's only a dog."

"Yes. Right," Archie agreed, toying with his glasses. But he could swear that the Dalmatian looking up at him was definitely smiling.

~/~/~

AN: This was oodles of fun to write! :D Especially as I got to play with Pongo as a character, since he's technically an NPC. I hope you enjoyed this little bit of RedXCricket, because I know that I definitely did. ^^


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